Se. Byrd: "Bush seeks to rob Americans"

In the past 36 hours, there have been a number of interesting discussions regarding our nation's political/economic history; the state of affairs today; and what the future may hold in store for us.

Is the United States a democratic nation? Was it ever? Are we becoming a dictatorship? Fascist? I think these are interesting questions. They are worthy of discussion.

The following quote is from Senator Robert C. Byrd's book, "Losing America." (Norton; 2004) It is taken from pages 78-9. I think that these two paragraphs are among the most important of our time.

"Only hours after the September 11 attacks, the administration installed a 'shadow government' of about a hundred senior executive branch officials to live and work secretly outside Washington at two East Coast locations, reportedly run from the White House. White House Chief of staff Andrew Card directs the shadow government from the White House, where he is immune from giving testimony to Congress (have we heard this before?). The shadow government is supposed to assume command of the government in case of a national emergency. Of course, this shadow government consists of one branch only, the executive branch.

" This shadow government was created under the authority of the 'continuity of operations' plans left over from the Cold War and executive orders issued by President Ronald Reagan. However, the Congress has not sanctioned the shadow government, nor were members of Congress even made aware of its existence until the story was leaked in March 2002. This shadow government has been described as an 'indefinite precauion,' which can mean anything. While a few newspaper stories appeared in March 2002, very little new information has been reported since then. The shadow government is presumed to continue its operation outside of congressional oversight."

Has this "shadow" been lifted from our government? Or is the public still in the dark about what has happened?

:scared:

Does it mean when the peasants finally revolt, or the rest of the world finally decides to declare war on the U.S., the Executive branch will continue to rule safely from their bunkers?

the royalty of the planet..They aim to destroy the middle class that they detest cuz the middle knows their agenda and remins the buffer between them and the poor....

Well, I guess this tells us where Cheney's been. He's probably at the same 'undisclosed location' as the individuals Byrd cites, running the whole underground show.

conducted most of the post 9-11 business from his bunker, while Vice President Bush did the public cheer-leading.

... and what 'operations' do not. I'd bet a testicle that Police Power (martial law, deadly force, et. al.) is among the top two. I'm skeptical that life-preserving emergency services for the hoi polloi is given any shrift at all, short or otherwise.

Robert Byrd is a true patriot. He is one of the very few persons in Washington who STILL tells the whole truth! If Mr. Byrd is upset about the way the neocons are running the country, he speaks out plainly and he does the job the people of West Virginia elected him to do.

If Robert Byrd is worried about the shadow government, then it's time we all started to worry along with him.

Think about the hurt you feel when you see the neocons trying to destroy our democratic form of government, which has stood for over 200 years! Now, think of how it must hurt people like Robert Byrd, who have fought tooth and nail for democracy down through the years, to watch as Bushco turns America into a fascist state. I think Mr. Byrd is one of the few still left in Washington, who puts the welfare his country and his countrymen ahead of his own pocketbook.

There is something about a person who can overcome his past errors, to become a voice of conscience, that I admire. I get a kick out of the rabid right's yipping about his past; it would be like trying to limit discussions about Malcolm X's significance by calling him an addict and pimp. In a healthy society, elders like Byrd hold positions of honor.

A shadow gov is in control. Makes me wonder if martial law wouldn't be slapped down if a Dem won the WH. Neocons hate liberals since Strauss claimed they were ruining nations. However, Strauss was a survivor of the Holocaust which influenced him greatly. At one time, Hitler was considered a liberal so Strauss thought all liberals were evil. Thanks to his college courses on neoconservatism, we're all suffering from those fools.

It makes me wonder how sincere the neocons are about wanting to promote democracy. Call me paranoid, but I always think about His Honesty Scalia's speech to the January 2002 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, where he stated that the Constitution is the divinely inspired law of God, and "(t)hat consensus has been upset by the emergence of democracy." Scalia further states that "the reactions of people of faith to this tendency of democracy to obscure the divine authority behind government should not be resignation to it but resolve to combat it as effectively as possible." (American Dynasty; Kevin Phillips; Viking; 2004; pages 107-8)

The military is totally spread too thin as it is (138K troops in Iraq, and another 18K in Afghanistan). They are not meeting recruitment goals as it is.

Do we really think that * could impose Martial Law on the whole of the United States? Do we think that local police and state troopers are going to hold their neighbors at gun point, inforce curfews, set up road blocks, etc...????

on "Martial Law" in the quote from Senator Byrd. What are you referring to?

not subject to congressional oversight:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29414-2005Jan22.html

Our government is running extra legal detentions and secret deportations:

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/004611.html

Secret torture flights:

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/17/1525208

Secret reconnaissance on Iran:

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?050124fa_fact

Those are just the ones I could recall off the top of my head. I'm probably on double secret probation for even posting them here. :)

Thanks for adding it.

Why not a parallel "star chamber" type of leadership. I have often wondered about the amount of time he spent in Crawford before 9/11. He effectively moved the executive branch to his home where he had complete control over who had access to information.

His insistence on creating more and more intelligence agencies is disturbing as well. The Dept of Homeland Security was supposed to be the fix all, now there is discussions about other agencies as well.

The purpose could be to create a "safe" environment where illegal idea's could float around freely among hand picked trusted individuals who had the same power as established agencies. The problem with established agencies is that there is a hierarchy of people who would need to be involved that may not agree with the discussions at hand.

I think it is entirely possible.

Ambassador Wilson's book had important information on the vice president's private intelligence agencies. It's not a direction that the country should go in.

I think it is important that people have an idea what a "shadow government" is, and what it isn't. Your post is informative. Thanks.